This invention relates to a compression-producing tool and, more particularly, to such a tool which provides improved compression effect on different sized objects and is advantageously used as a nutcracker.
Heretofore, most tools for producing compression on a workpiece did so directly, using some form of force multiplication, usually a form of lever action. When used as a nutcracker, such tools usually comprised two straight leg members, hinged together at one end and having mutually opposed roughened jaw sections on the legs adjacent the hinge and a grasping section remote from the hinge, toward the other end of the leg members. Among the disadvantages of this nut-cracker were that the size and character of the shell of the nut to be cracked affects the efficiency of the lever action; excessive force is usually required particularly if the nut is large and has a hard shell, making it difficult for children and persons with weak grasping abilities to operate it, and very little force may be exerted on a small nut even when the grasping sections are pressed into contact with each other. Partly because of the excessive force required to crack the shell of some types and/or sizes of nuts, in addition to cracking the shell, the typical nutcracker often cracked or damaged the nutmeat.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a compression-producing tool which can be adjusted to accommodate to workpieces of different sizes and thereby can be operated with reduced force, and greater efficiency.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved nutcracker which is reliable, simple and inexpensive.
Still another object is to provide a nutcracker which can crack and remove the shell of nuts of varying sizes without damaging the nutmeat.